Bible
The Bible, is the inerrant word of God Also known as the Holy Bible, the Bible refers to several similar collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. The Bible is the best-selling book in history with more than 6 billion copies published. 'Modifications to the Bible' Those people who, for whatever reason, say they believe in a God that is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present, but isn't capable of preserving his word in a book and keep a book together, how can they trust him to preserve a soul, after all? The Bible is either trustworthy, or it isn't. If it's been modified, or if it has changed over time, then we can't know what has changed, and thus it's useless for everything except for feel-good stories. The archaeology -- discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the fact we have more than 5,000 very early copies and fragments of copies of the New Testament books, plus another 15,000 in other languages (Syriac, Coptic, Aramaic, Hebrew, etc.) -- shows that the Bible has arrived in our hands whole, transmitted through time without changes and modifications. By comparing those many books, it becomes fairly simple to see that the contents of the New Testament have NOT been changed over time. What's more, early Christians quoted the books of the New Testament extensively in their own writings, so much so that we can reconstruct the books of the New Testament using only these secondary sources, all dated before about 250 A.D. If you reject the Bible as being transmitted poorly, you have to reject all other works of antiquity, none of which have the historical and textual support for accurate transmission that the New Testament books has. The Iliad? Republic? They don't even come close. For more, click here. 'Bible Translations' Bible translation (and any document translation) is done by one of three primary methods, each having value depending upon your purpose: #The translation attempts to render the most accurate word-for-word representation of the original. #The translation attempts to render the most accurate thought-for-thought representation. #The translation attempts to paraphrase the original. The King James Version is a widely accepted word-for-word translation. This is excellent for detailed study when one wants to know specific word choices and the deeper meaning behind the original wording. The New King James is probably better for most readers, as it uses a more modern English rendering of the original Hebrew and Greek words. It adds a layer of confusion for many readers to study Hebrew words rendered in the middle English of 1611 that they then have to try to understand in modern English terms. The NIV and the NASB are two examples of translations that attempt to render a thought-for-thought translation. These are not as effective for detailed study of original words and meanings, but they render the original language (particularly idioms or other things that wouldn't make sense to modern English speakers) in more easily understandable words. Paraphrases, like The Message or the Living Bible, are sort of like a friend sitting down to tell you about the Bible. They're someone else's words and make almost no attempt to stick to the original wording of the source text, however, they're exceptionally easy to read and understand. In the end, the "best" Bible is the one that you'll read. 'Errors in the Bible' The claim that archaeology proves the Bible in error is simply factually incorrect. The simple truth is that while there have indeed been (and continue to be) disputes about various historical details contained within the Bible, the spade of the archaeologist has never proven the Bible to be incorrect. For example, there used to be a claim that there were three errors in the first two verses of the book of Luke. There was no census in the years described, the census did not require people to return to their homes, and Quirenius was governor at a much later time than is described. While there was no archaeological data to support the Biblical claims, neither was the Bible proven false. Interestingly, an inscription as Ceasarea was found that demonstrated that Quirenius was governor twice, once at the time of the birth of Jesus, and at the later time, as well. Later, an Egyptian papyrus was found that delineated the instructions for returning to one's birthplace for the census. In all three "errors" in the Bible, later historical finds validated the Bible's descriptions. There are four possibilities for errors in the Bible: #'Personal bias and fabrication' -- unfortunately, we see too many of these, even from scholars. #'Incomplete evidence' -- this is quite common; the description above where there existed no record of requirements for a return to one's birthplace for a census is just one example. #'Misinterpreted evidence' -- again, this is common. In part, the example of Quirenius relies on misinterpretation of evidence (although there was also incomplete evidence.) #'Legitimate Biblical error' -- there are no such errors confirmed. 'Credibility of the Bible' Christians don't rely on the Bible because it says to do so. There are extensive historical accounts that have been validated, numerous prophetic claims that have later been proven to have come true, and a plethora of archaeological discoveries that validate the contents of the Bible and its accurate transmission through time. The Bible says that Solomon built three city gates at Meggido, Hazor, and Gezer. Today, you can go to Meggido, Hazor, and Gezer and see the remains of the Solomonic gates. The Bible says that Joshua and the Israelites attacked the city of Hazor. It claims that the city was burned in a great fire, that the Israelites lopped the heads off of pagan idols, and that that city was an important capital. Today, ongoing digs show all of these things are true. (You can even volunteer to work on an ongoing dig at Hazor under professor Amnon Ben Tor, if you wish.) The Bible describes Jesus telling a man to go and wash in the pool of Bethsaida. In 2003, the pool was unearthed in Jerusalem. Bar Ilan University archaeologist Gabriel Barkay says that there are no other candidates for this pool, and this is most definitely the one referenced in scripture. The Bible describes the attack of the Babylonians on Jerusalem in 586 B.C. In sorting through debris recovered from the Temple Mount (illegally excavated by Muslims), Barkay has found bronze Babylonian arrow heads, validating again the account of scripture. We can know for certain that the Bible is historically accurate, transmitted accurately, and prophetically accurate. With that pedigree, it's not hard to make assumptions about its supernatural claims. 'Prophecies' In approximately 500 B.C., the Jewish prophet Isaiah predicted that Cyrus would rebuild the Jewish Temple. At the time, the Temple was the greatest, most ornate building of the ancient world, and it was not in need of remodeling or rebuilding. In 586 B.C., the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem. They took Jews captive and forced them into slavery. In their raid, they destroyed the Jewish Temple. Approximately 50 years later, a child was born that would grow up to be leader of a new Empire, the Medeo-Persians. That child, once he'd grown up and taken his position of national leadership, led the Medeo-Persians in a campaign against the Babylonians. He overthrew them, and freed the Jewish slaves, who were allowed to return home. As a gesture of good will, he offered to provide materials and labor for the Jews to rebuild their Temple. As you've already guessed, that leader's name was Cyrus, exactly as was predicted. And so we have a very detailed, very specific prophecy of future events that could not have been forseen by way of good guessing that was made more than 150 years prior to its eventual fulfillment that even names by name the man who fulfills it, well before he was born. There's no disputing the date of the original prophecy, and no question about the later fulfillment. That's just one example. There are many many others. Claim the Bible is man-made if you need to. But you'll have to do so with your head in the sand, as there is no rational, evidence-based explanation for why such prophecies can be made over and over and over again by the Bible and continue to come true. 'Contradictions in the Bible' Here's the problem: when you excise any single line of ''any ''single work and try to force it to stand on its own, you destroy its meaning. It's even worse when you ignore the cultural and historical context of what you're examining. It’s possible, when taking Scripture out of context, to "prove" that God is a chicken. Category:Dr. Bobisms